Forward March
by Crazy Fool Stiney
Summary: Companion piece to 'About Face'. B.A. finds out about Face and Murdock in probably the worst way possible and the boys have to deal with the fall out.


It'd been a really bad idea. At the time he hadn't been thinking clearly. One could say his mind had been clouded (not the first time that'd been said about H.M. Murdock, thank you very much). Honestly, though, whose judgment wouldn't be impaired if they'd had Templeton Peck writhing and moaning in their lap?

So, yeah, sex in the van had seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the end of the Strikersville job, but it really wasn't. It hadn't been such a great plan (which should be noted, had once again been one of Face's) when B.A. had thrown the door open and quite literally caught them with their pants down. Murdock tried to disentangle himself from Face, who in a rush of panic before the door opened had fallen off Murdock's lap, their pants and legs a jumbled mess around them.

And maybe there was the fleeting moment it'd seemed worth it when after Hannibal had shut the door, effectively separating a very shocked B.A. and themselves, there'd been those three words it'd taken them over two years to say out loud. Of course, it'd be with Face, bare ass on the gross floor of B.A.'s in dire need of work "new" baby and Murdock sitting there wearing a just bought t-shirt that as of a few minutes prior needed to be thrown in a wash. No one ever said the A-Team didn't do everything in a ridiculous manner.

The ride home had solidified the bad choice designation. 2,466 miles and over 38 hours of silence and dirty looks, not just from Bosco but Hannibal also. Murdock would have rather had B.A.'s big ole' mudsucka hands removed from around his neck a thousand times over than sit through that again.

And Face, hardheaded Face. He had not made the situation any better, not in the least. Face grumbled and bitched on the way home, even after Hannibal had taken them both aside on the way into a roadside diner in BFE, Texas.

"When I told you to take care of telling B.A., this is not what I meant."

"It was stupid. We're sorry." Murdock had said, because it was and they were. This wasn't the way they were supposed to talk to Bosco.

"Stupid and disrespectful." Hannibal shook his head and before Murdock could say anything, Face started in again.

"It was a dumbass thing to do. I know that. But this is bullshit, boss."

Hannibal narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. "We've already had this discussion about not letting what you're doing, this thing, affect the team."

"What we're doing? _This thing_? Really? We're not doing anything different, Hannibal. And this thing, this thing is…" Face stormed back towards the van, shrugging off Murdock's hand as he passed.

Murdock knew Hannibal was still having a hard time with him and Face, even if he'd warmed up over the last six months, sometimes it was still strained. Murdock had caught Hannibal watching them when he didn't think either of them knew, his expression ranging from confusion to irritation. Hell, once even something that resembled sadness. That's the one, most of all, Murdock wish he'd missed.

Murdock took off his hat, giving it a good anxious twist and Hannibal sighed, knowing if they didn't talk about it now that poor hat wouldn't make it back to Bakersfield intact.

"I didn't mean…" Hannibal rubbed a hand over his face as he looked at the diner where B.A. glanced out the window then over at Face who was leaned against the van's grill, staring off at the desert, "I don't know."

_"Daddy, daddy if you could only see, Just how good he's been treating me, You'd give us your blessing right now, 'Cause we are in love, we are in love, so please. Papa don't preach." _

Murdock started singing and Hannibal watched with a mix of bewilderment and hesitant recognition before he let out a laugh that had the pilot grinning up at him, "Murdock, if you're pregnant we have far bigger things to worry about than B.A."

"Bossman, didn't anyone ever tell you butt…nevermind." Murdock shook his head and put all jokes aside.

"I know this isn't something you anticipated and I know we don't always make it easy." Murdock blushed as red as the hat he'd finally stopped twisting, as he admitted that he and Face had screwed up on more than one occasion.

"Not expected at all and yes, I could do without the audio that's provided at times, but it's Face. Remember how he got that time B.A.'s mom sent the care package with the cookies?" Hannibal clapped Murdock on the back as the pilot did a spot on imitation of Face's excitement for Mama B's baked goods.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Face shouted suspiciously from his spot by the van.

"Nothing." Murdock giggled and waved him over.

Murdock had hoped it would have gotten easier after that but it didn't. At least not with B.A. Anytime Murdock would try and talk to him the week after they'd gotten back B.A. would scowl and leave the room.

Face hadn't made things any less stressful, he wanted the situation over and everyone back to the way they'd been before. It didn't help; all it did was cause constant arguments between Face and B.A.

The arguments continued throughout the week culminating in the rip roaring one that finally brought everything to a head in the house.

Murdock had been cooking dinner as Face tried to stay out of the way or moved around to help when required but mostly the tiny kitchen gave the pair the excuse for lingering touches or bodies pressed together while grabbing stuff from the pantry and whatnot.

Face was sitting on the counter when Murdock had reached for something in the cupboard behind Face and placed a hand on his thigh as the pilot stretched to get the needed item.

"I could have gotten that for you."

"Yeah, you could have, but this way's more fun." Murdock grinned wickedly as Face slid a hand over his cargo clad ass. Murdock grasped Face's shirt and started to pull him closer but then froze up and moved away.

"Buddy, what's wrong?" Face turned and saw B.A. go around the corner back out of the kitchen.

"Come on!" Face shouted as he slipped off the counter and followed B.A. into the living room. "Are you kidding me?"

B.A. was staring out the front window.

"That's gonna bother you? Man, give me a fucking break, Bosco. It's alright if we touch each other. We're old enough and sure as shit don't need your permission."

"You need to watch that tone with me." B.A. said as he turned and pointed at Face.

"My tone? My tone is right where it needs to be when you've been walking around here giving us the goddamn hairy eyeball when nothing's changed. This has nothing to do with you!"

"How you figure this ain't got to do with me? Y'all hiding big shit from me. You don't think I should be let in on this? Six months Hannibal known and you couldn't tell me? Y'all gotta fuck around in my van to let me know?"

"Your goddamn van? Is that's what's bothering you? Would you still be pissed had you opened the door and found one of us with some random girl?"

"This is bullshit." B.A. shouted back. "You ain't_ listening_ and you ain't turning this around on me." The two of them stood dangerously close, anger rolling off of each other.

"Face." Murdock's voice was quiet but it stopped both men's shouting as they turned to look at him in the doorway. "Come outside with me." Murdock glanced at B.A. then left before Face stomped out onto the back porch after him.

"H.M., what the fuck?"

"Stop, just stop. You're not helping."

"Christ, we're adults."

Murdock sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We are, but you can't expect him to be ok immediately."

"Hannibal is."

Murdock laughed sharply and Face looked at him.

"What? What is it?"

"Temp, come on." Murdock rolled his eyes. "Hannibal is not entirely fine with the situation. You've just been so determined that everything be business as usual that you either ignored or just flat out missed it."

Face shook his head then took a step away from Murdock and looked out at the backyard. "No, no, Hannibal's cool."

"Really? Did you forget the wonkiness right before we left for the Strikersville job?"

"What are you talking about?"

Murdock shook his head at Face's complete obliviousness.

The week before they'd gone to Florida, Murdock had been in the shower when Face slid in behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"Um, taking a shower? We buddy up and this place only having one bathroom isn't so bad. Plus, I just like seeing you all wet and naked." Face leaned in closer when a knock came at the bathroom door.

Murdock held a finger up to his lips then stuck his head out of the curtain.

"Yeah?"

"Murdock, I need to get my toothbrush." Hannibal said on the other side of the door.

"That's fine, sir."

"I hate brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink." Hannibal stepped in and grabbed his toothbrush, "Next time Face has got to find us a place that at least has two bathrooms."

"Hey! I did the best I could! Let's see you find a better place when you've got MPs up your ass, boss." Face complained from the other side of the shower.

Murdock cringed as a look of discomfort crossed Hannibal's face when he registered that the pair were at present time naked (which is kinda required when bathing) and in the shower together (like they all hadn't showered together at one time or another in the last 9 years. But it was different for the two of them now). Hannibal avoided Murdock's eyes and left without taking the toothbrush.

Face frowned as Murdock laid it out for him.

Murdock sighed and knew he needed to tread carefully here, "Hannibal's working towards it. But in the mean time you need to ease up on Bosco."

"Seriously? He's the one that's acting like we grew fucking tentacles or something."

"Please, stop fighting with him. It's not making things any better. I love you but you're such a pain in the ass sometimes."

"All ya' gotta do is ask for more lube." Face wagged his eyebrows and smiled, but Murdock saw the distress around the edges, regardless of how crudely Face tried to hide it.

"Shut up and help me finish dinner. All y'alls bickering better not have messed with my Rendang chicken."

Later that night Murdock was woken out of sleep by the sound of someone getting violently ill. The bathroom was right next to their room so it was like having a front row seat to the retching.

Murdock reached out, coming in contact with the warm skin of Face's back. The pilot sat up and listened a while longer before realizing it was B.A.

Face mumbled beside him.

"Shh." Murdock whispered as he got out of bed. He made his way to the door and was met in the hall by Hannibal.

"What's going on?"

"I got it, bossman. B.A.'s sick. I'll take care of it." Murdock said, shooing Hannibal back to bed as he opened the bathroom door.

"Hey, big guy."

Without lifting his head from the toilet, B.A. waved Murdock away, even as the mechanic was hit again by what had finally tapered off to just dry heaving.

Murdock grabbed a washcloth from under the sink and got it wet before sitting on the rim of the bathtub.

"It's ok. Here." He pressed the cool cloth against B.A.'s neck briefly before he was batted away.

"Bosco. Stop."

"What'd you do to that food, fool?" B.A. panted as he reached up and flushed the toilet.

"Didn't do nothing to it. Stuck straight to the recipe." Murdock placed the towel back on B.A.'s neck without protest this time.

Murdock smiled when a good stretch of time passed without anymore vomiting.

"Looks like it might be over." Murdock bent into the tub to rewet the now warm cloth then wrung out the excess water. "I'm sorry."

"Thought you didn't mess with it."

"I don't mean the food. I'm sorry about the…you know."

"We gonna do this while I'm covered in puke? Really?"

"Well, seems like the only way it's gonna happen. C'mere. Lean back." Murdock slid to the floor then patted the side of the tub. B.A. heaved a sigh but complied as the cool cloth was placed on his forehead.

"We should have told you sooner. But really, when's the right time? Bosco, we're running from the military but we need to talk about Face and Murdock sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Bullshit." B.A. removed the cloth and looked at the pilot full on for the first time.

Murdock was staring at him with that warbly-eyed, wounded puppy look that most of the time was reserved for getting his way, usually with Face. _'How the hell is this really coming as a surprise?'_ B.A. thought as Murdock continued gaping at him while chewing on his bottom lip.

"Man, stop that shit 'fore you bite clear through you lip." B.A. growled then felt a little bad when Murdock flinched a bit.

"It's my fault. Face wanted to tell you but I told him no." Murdock said turning his attention to a spot high on the ceiling.

"What I can't handle this? You don't trust me?"

Murdock's head whipped around, "Bosco, really? Now who's talking bullshit?"

"What you expect me to think?" B.A. asked as Murdock put his head down on his knees.

"It ain't like that, I swear. Face doesn't understand that you can't just be loud and blasé and things'll be the same as before."

"That fool can't be anything other than loud and blasé." B.A. said and got a muffled giggle from Murdock.

"True, but that's why we love him."

B.A. grunted in response and waited for Murdock to continue.

"I had a friend, Danny, all through high school; we were even roommates in college. Second year of college he started asking me questions. I knew he knew but I just couldn't tell him outright. I was scared, I hadn't told anyone but he kept pushing. So I told him what he wanted to hear and he laughed, told me it was about time and that was it. Everything was normal."

B.A. watched Murdock's hand run through the back of his hair as he kept talking without looking up.

"'Bout a year later Danny started acting real weird, but every time I asked, we were still cool. Came back from visiting my Gramma and Granddaddy at Christmas and Danny had moved out. Every time I'd see him around campus he'd act like he didn't even know me. Finally stopped him one day and asked him what I'd done. He told me he couldn't be friends with me and felt like I was forcing him to believe in something he was against." Murdock looked over his arms at B.A. who was staring at the door, his lips drawn tight.

_"People are people and sometimes it doesn't work out, Nothing we say is gonna save us from the fall out._" Murdock started singing just above a whisper, "_It's two a.m., feelin' like I just lost a friend, Hope you know it's not easy, easy for me."_

"Man, why you gotta bring…" B.A. stopped and turned to the pilot. "Look here, my cousin Walter, when we were little I thought I was gonna have to bust heads. Walter'd walk around school wearing a boa and some days refusing to respond to anything other than 'Diana'. Kids laughed but that stopped real quick and I didn't even have a chance to do a thing. First time someone stepped up on Walter he beat their ass while wearing that damned boa." B.A. tried to keep his face stern when Murdock lifted his head and grinned.

"The Baracian gene is strong in that one."

"Yeah it is. He's my family and I love him. I don't care 'bout nothing else."

"Awww, Bosco. Are you trying to say I'm family?" Murdock reached out and squeezed B.A.'s arm.

"Don't say nothing, Crazy. You ain't off the hook just 'cause I'm telling you about Walter and you over here singing some Taylor Swift."

"All this time and this is all it took. I woulda told ya' back then if I'd known you'd admit to your Tay-Tay love. Woulda saved me a strangling."

"Shut up, fool. That's what you get for stealing my iPod. Wait... Back then?" B.A. knew the answer without confirmation. The way the two'd acted the whole goddamned week before they left out for that leave back in '09, all pissed off and snapping at each other. Then the complete 180 when they came back, looking all worn out and… _'Nope, hell no I ain't going there.'_

Murdock laughed like he knew exactly what was tumbling around in B.A.'s head. "Sorry big guy."

"Y'all coulda told me when ya' told Hannibal."

Murdock sighed. "Hannibal was enough. He's uncomfortable and Face doesn't understand that."

"Old man'll be fine."

"He will but Face keeps pushing," Murdock waved a hand, "as you know."

"Sure as shit do. Gonna get his ass knocked out. You sure you love him?"

"Yep. Absolutely."

"You couldn't find someone less high maintenance?" B.A. snickered.

"Nope. Can't help it. I like 'em pretty." Murdock said with a wink.

"Then that's all there is to it. Don't nothing else matter. But…" B.A. pointed at the pilot. "I don't care about no damned love if I catch y'all in my van again. Ya' hear?"

Murdock saluted him with a chuckle. "Bison scout honor."

"I mean it, man. I don't even want y'all making lovey eyes at each other. Scarring my baby with y'alls naked white asses." B.A. growled.

"I'm sorry Bosco, for real." Murdock laughed harder before a soft knock at the door halted him.

Face stuck his head in and looked at the two men on the floor. "Everything ok? You feeling all right, Bosco?"

"I still think this fool poisoned me on purpose but yeah we're cool."

Face started to say something but B.A. stopped him.

"We're cool. Me and you're cool, Face. That don't mean I ain't gonna tell you just like I told this one." B.A. jabbed Murdock in the shoulder.

"Ow." Murdock rubbed his arm as Face stared at them wide eyed.

"I don't care we're a team. I don't care how many times we've saved each other's asses. I don't care what you do but you do it in my van and that's the end of Murdock and Face. Understand?"

Face shook his head in the affirmative then glanced quizzically at Murdock.

"All right. My stomach still hurts and my ass is cold from this nasty floor I been sitting on the last hour. I'm going to bed. We good?"

"Good." Murdock smiled as he scrambled to his feet while Face reached out to help B.A. up.

The End


End file.
